Flourish
by ChibiSNO123
Summary: Diane is nervous and excited to finally achieve a lifelong dream of attending college. She meets many interesting and an amazing people but one person in particular will stand out. Diane x King (Modern Day AU). With side pairings Meliodas x Elizabeth and Ban x Elaine.
1. Chapter 1 - A New Beginning

_A/N: So I just recently discovered this anime/manga and I have to say I'm absolutely in love. King is by far my favorite character so I decided to write a cute little AU story about their relationship. My story takes place in the modern day (2016!) and all of the Sins are in college. Let me know what you think by leaving a review! If you guys like it I'll keep updating this story._

 **Chapter 1: A New Beginning**

The warm August sun felt wonderful on Diane's skin as she climbed out of her car. Her car was an old 1994 Camry and its door squeaked loudly as she pushed it closed. She could hear cicadas chirping and the distant sound of people talking. Diane glanced around, trying to spot the entrance to the building before her.

It was the beginning of the 2016 Fall Semester at Taizai University. She had moved all the way across the country from her family's home out in the mountains. Diane had never been to any sort of formal school; all her education had been done from home. Life had been easier that way because of her own little secret. Diane was secretly a giantess. She had always longed to go to school and make friends, but her size obviously made it quite difficult. Diane had only been able to fulfill her dream of University life after her genius of a friend, Merlin, had designed some medicine she could take daily to reduce her size.

Diane nervously pulled open the door to the dorm building, the cool feeling of air conditioner enveloping her. She immediately glanced around and noticed there were a ton of people standing around and chatting, She approached the only desk she could see and hoped someone there could point her in the right direction. To her disappointment, no one was at the desk. She studied the room nervously, unsure of who to talk to.

"Uhm… excuse me?" She tried tapping the shoulder of a gentlemen chatting. Her quiet and shy voice went unheard. Diane was feeling slightly discouraged and decided to wait for someone to return to the desk. Suddenly she heard a voice beside her.

"Hey, you need help with something, Miss?" The boy was shorter than most, with blonde hair and bright green eyes.

Diane was relieved to hear a friendly voice. "Y-yes. I just got here. My dorm room is located in this building. I was wondering who I could check in with."

The boy smiled. "Sure, one moment." He boldly walked behind the desk and opened a door leading into another room. He leaned in and shouted at someone inside. "Yo! Ban! Do your damn job! You've got another freshman trying to check-in."

"Yeah, yeah, captain." The man named Ban mumbled. He walked towards the desk with a clipboard in hand. He was tall and slender with unusually blue-ish silver hair. He wore a tight red V-neck t-shirt and skinny blue jeans. His eyes were narrow and Diane couldn't help but think he resembled a fox in appearance. "Yo. I need a copy of your ID so I can get you checked in. After that, I'm giving you a list of things to check the condition of in your room."

Diane nodded, reaching into her purse and pulling out her wallet. She handed her ID to Ban. The taller man took her ID and walked back into the room behind the desk. There he made a copy of her ID before walking back up and handing it back to her. He leaned over and unlocked one of the drawers to the desk and began thumbing through some files. "Ah, here we go, Miss Diane." He said quietly and pulled out a manila envelope and flipped it open, inside was a simple metal key. He handed it to her along with the checklist.

"Mind showing her to her room, captain?"

"Just don't do anything pervy while you're up on the girl's floor." A smaller blonde haired girl emerged from the room. "I'm aware Elizabeth's room is up on the floor. Make sure you show her some respect."

The blonde-haired boy said nothing and simply gave her thumbs up. "Right this way Miss Diane."

Diane nodded and turned to thank Ban. She followed the blonde-haired boy up a couple flights of stairs before arriving at a long hallway full of different rooms. There were a lot of girls out and about, hurriedly moving their stuff into their rooms and trying to get organized. They eventually arrived a wooden door, near the end of the hallway.

"Go ahead, try your key out."

Diane stuck the key into the door, turned it and then pushed the door up.

"Oh!" A meek voice from inside squeaked. "Hello!"

Diane glanced over the figure in front of her. A skinny, almost fragile looking girl with silver hair and gorgeous blue eyes stared back at her. She wore a pink t-shirt and jean shorts. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail.

"I'm Elizabeth!" She stuck a hand out towards Diane. Diane gladly shook the hand of the smaller girl.

"Diane! I guess we're going to be roommates then." She smiled widely, excited to make a friend.

The blonde-haired boy who had shown Diane to her room pushed between them and entered their room. He silently admired the bras laid out on the bed.

"Kyahhhh! MELIODAS! Stop!" Elizabeth shrieked, shooing the blonde-haired guy out of their room. Meliodas swiftly headed down the hallways, Elizabeth following. Elizabeth turned back towards Diane. "I'll be right back!"

Diane tilted her head in confusion at the weird display. The one called Meliodas was certainly an interesting character. She glanced down at her checklist and slowly worked her way around the room, carefully checking over each item. When she was finished, Elizabeth had still not returned. She headed back downstairs to the front desk. She handed Ban back her checklist and began to walk out towards her car to start the task of gathering her things.

"Excuse me, Miss?" A very polite voice spoke behind her.

Diane turned back and locked eyes with a shorter boy with reddish-brown eyes. He was short like the Meliodas character but with flushed cheeks. Matching his eyes he had reddish-brown, short and slightly messy hair. His expression was borderline bored looking. Diane couldn't help but feel he looked very familiar.

"Yes?" She responded.

He must have felt the same feeling of recognition because momentarily he was silent. His eyes widened and his cheeks flushed to a deeper pink. He quickly cleared his throat, turning away shyly. "Do you need any help carrying your stuff up to your room?"

Diane couldn't help but wonder what such a frail-looking boy would be able to help her with but decided it would come off snooty to turn down his help. "Sure! I'm Diane." She stuck out a hand.

"King." He quietly replied while shaking her hand.

"King, huh? That's an interesting name."

He gave her a half-smile. "It's a nickname. I prefer to go by it instead of my real name."

Diane nodded, deciding not to pry. They approached her car and she popped open the trunk of her car then handed him a smaller looking box. She would save the larger boxes for herself. Although she had lost her size from the medicine, she still maintained a lot of her strength. "Everyone here is so friendly!" She exclaimed, scooping up a large box. "I've already had two guys named Meliodas and Ban help me out. You guys are all real life savers."

King smiled. "We're just glad to help out. We're all fraternity brothers and we know how stressful the first day of freshman year can be."

"Wow! You're not a freshman? What year are you?"

"Senior." He smiled.

Diane's jaw almost dropped, King didn't look like he could be a day over sixteen, let alone old enough to be a senior in college.

"Meliodas is a junior and Ban is a sophomore." King added.

"Wow!" Diane repeated.

"So what will you be studying?" King asked, trying to make conversation as they headed back into the building.

"Geology." Diane winked, sticking her tongue out at the older boy. "It may be a bit silly, but I love the earth and minerals. It's all so interesting to me."

King blushed, perhaps in response to her wink. "That's not silly at all. You should definitely find something you enjoy. It's also great that you already know what your major will be. Not many freshman have a clue what they want to go to school for."

"Really?" Diane said thoughtfully. "How about you, King? What's your major?" The two of them stepped back into her room.

"Botany, actually. I enjoy the natural and simple things in life." He leaned over and set her bag of personal belongings down gently.

Before their conversation continued, Elizabeth reentered the room looking slightly out of breath. "Hey King!"

"Hey Elizabeth." King nodded towards her.

"Don't worry about helping Diane anymore. I can take it from here." Elizabeth mockingly flexed her arm.

"Sure. Just let me know if I can help with anything." King smiled towards Diane. "It was nice to meet you." He exited the room, leaving the two girls alone.

"Thank you Elizabeth. So, are you a senior too?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "Nope, actually I'm a freshman!"

"Oh, well you don't have to help me if you're busy unpacking your own things!"

Elizabeth shook her head again. "Nope, let me help. Meliodas already helped me carry my things up here. We now need to get you situated so we can bond while decorating our room together!"

"Sure!" Diane gave her a wide smile, very excited about having such a sweet roommate.

* * *

After a long day of unpacking and decorating, Elizabeth and Diane were beginning to get hungry. They decided to check out the cafeteria on campus. The line to get in wasn't long, and Diane's student ID doubled as a meal card.

Diane had learned a lot about her new friend Elizabeth. Apparently she was the youngest daughter of the state's governor. The giantess had been very surprised to learn that fact, for Elizabeth didn't come off as the wealthy and snobby kind. She was very kind and soft-spoken. Diane had felt slightly guilty for being so quiet about her own past but it wasn't exactly normal that she was secretly a giant. If she had disclosed this information to Elizabeth, even the sweet silver-haired girl would think she was crazy. Giants just simply didn't exist, or at least, according to most people's understanding of the world.

As she glanced around the room, she noticed they had many different kinds of food. Pork, beef or chicken, pizza, soup, hot dogs, burgers, salads, etc, it all looked so appetizing. "Wow, I can't decide what I'm going to eat! I'm starving!"

"Well, the good thing is that it's an all-you-can-eat buffet, Diane. Go crazy! We definitely need the energy after all our hard work today." Elizabeth happily smiled towards her taller friend.

"All-you-can-eat-buffet?! College is awesome!"

Elizabeth chuckled. "I'll meet you at the table, okay? I'm going to grab some soup."

Diane made her way around the room, grabbing many different food items to sample. She made her way back to the table where Elizabeth and the blonde-haired girl she had seen with Ban earlier sat.

"Diane, this is Elaine." Elizabeth introduced the other girl as soon as she sat down.

"Nice to meet you, Diane!" The blonde-haired girl chirped sweetly.

"Nice to meet you too, Elaine."

The two of them did the normal get-to-know each other speech. Diane found out about Elaine's major, what year she was, etc. Elaine was a sophomore like Ban.

"So how was your move-in this year?" Elizabeth asked Elaine.

"Fine, King was being super protective of me though. He wouldn't let me carry anything! I think between him and Ban I didn't get to handle a single one of my boxes!"

Diane recognized King as being the guy she had met earlier. "You know King, as well?"

Elaine nodded. "That's my overprotective older brother."

"Oh wow!" Diane replied. Now that Elaine mentioned it, her and King had an identical sort of appearance. They shared the same flushed cheeks and reddish-brown eyes.

"And Ban is her boyfriend." Elizabeth added.

Elaine chuckled, "Much to my brother's dismay. He would definitely prefer if none of his fraternity brothers dated his sister."

Elizabeth giggled as well. "Oh come on, King wouldn't be okay with anyone dating you. You're his baby sister."

"Very true. I guess he'll have to get over it though."

"So is Meliodas your boyfriend, Elizabeth?" Diane asked before taking a bite of pizza.

"N-no!" Elizabeth quickly stammered while blushing profusely. "Just a friend. His family members are good friends of ours so we sort of grew up together. He's always being a pervert towards me though."

"You can say that again, even I'm shocked by the stunts he pulls on you." Elaine quipped back, sticking a piece of fruit in her mouth.

Diane couldn't help but be silently relieved that Meliodas wasn't Elizabeth's boyfriend. She had secretly thought he was pretty damn cute. Maybe he was still on the market for a girlfriend then.

The girls chatted it up for the better part of an hour before Elizabeth finally yawned. "I think we're going to head back to the freshman dorms, Elaine. I'm dead-tired after all that lifting and unpacking. I will see you tomorrow, though?"

"Of course!"

The three of them cleaned up their area and headed back to their respective rooms. Diane had to admit she was feeling quite sleepy herself. It had been a long day of meeting a lot of new people. She couldn't get over just how kind everyone had been.

Her first day at Taizai University had been amazing and she couldn't wait to see what would come next.

* * *

 _I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of Flourish! Let me know if you would like to read more. Sorry for any typos and grammar errors._


	2. Chapter 2 - Information Gathering

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nanatsu no Taizai, The Seven Deadly Sins or King, unfortunately.**

 **No proofreader for this chapter. I apologize ahead of time for the mistakes. Read at your own risk!**

 **Chapter 2: Information Gathering**

Diane was glad that classes weren't starting until tomorrow. Her body ached from moving so many boxes and she was happy to be able to sleep in a bit. The light from outside had long begun to peek into their room inside. It was already pretty late in the morning.

"Diane?" The soft voice of her roommate asked quietly.

Diane rolled over, trying to ignore her to catch a few more precious moments of sleep.

"Diane?" Elizabeth repeated, slightly louder.

"Mm?" The giantess rolled over to sleepily look at her friend.

Elizabeth gave a shy smile. "Sorry to wake you, I was wondering if you were about ready to get up. It's already noon and we need to go buy our books today."

"Noon?!" Diane sat up quickly, throwing her comforter off her body. "I didn't realize it was so late already." She placed her head in her hands. "Man, I have so much to do." She frantically glanced around the room to locate her special bottle of pills. She would need to take another soon to maintain her size.

Elizabeth smiled again. "We'll be alright to get stuff done. We have Meliodas to help us around campus, after all." The silver-haired girl reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She flipped on the screen and scrolled through some text messages. "Speaking of which, Meliodas invited us out to lunch with him."

Diane felt the strong pangs of hunger in her chest. She could definitely go for some lunch right about. "Sounds good to me." She reached over to her nightstand and snagged the bottle of pills. She popped a pill in her mouth and raised the glass of water from her nightstand to her lips. Elizabeth stared curiously at her roommate but didn't pry at all which Diane was thankful for.

The two girls spent a little over thirty minutes getting ready. The brushed their teeth, put on a bit of makeup and then slipped on some clothing.

Elizabeth had taken the time to fully work on her appearance. She wore a decent amount of makeup and then slipped on a frilly pink top with short black shorts. She wore black knee-high tights and a pair of silver flats.

Diane was more of a tomboy and opted to just dab on a bit of mascara. She casually slipped on a yellow t-shirt with jean shorts. Not wanting to deal with doing anything with her hair, she simply tied her hair up in high pigtails. Diane didn't miss the opportunity to tease her roommate about her appearance. "Trying to impress Meliodas?"

"N-no!" Elizabeth blushed.

"Uh huh." Diane said sarcastically before walking over to her bed to grab her phone.

The two women headed down the hallway and off of their floor. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Meliodas was already there to greet them.

"What's up Elizabeth, what's up Diane?"

"Starving." Diane answered for the two of them.

The blonde smiled. "Good thing we're going to get some grub then. Follow me!" He led them towards his car.

Diane let Elizabeth sit in the front so she could talk to Meliodas. She climbed into the car and buckled in, flipping her phone on to check her messages on social media.

They drove mostly in silence, with Meliodas chiming in the occasional perverted joke and then Elizabeth shyly asking him to stop. They eventually arrived at a Mexican restaurant, which Diane nervously thought looked like a hole-in-the-wall.

As if reading her thoughts, Meliodas quickly reassured the two girls. "It looks kind of sketch, but it's actually amazing."

"We'll take your word for it." Diane replied, and Elizabeth nodded in agreement. At this point she was so hungry it didn't matter where they ate. Her gigantic appetite wouldn't be easy to satiate.

"I think King, Elaine, and Ban are already here. They should have snagged us a table by now as well."

Diane was relieved to hear there would be other people there besides just Meliodas and Elizabeth. The sexual tension between the two was beyond awkward and suffocating.

They walked into the building and the wonderful feeling of air-conditioned air washed over them. They strolled passed the hostess and glanced around the restaurant to find their friends.

"Oh come on Ban! Not at the table! That's my sister!"

Diane recognized King's voice yelping helplessly. They followed the source of the voices to the back of the restaurant.

When they arrived, Elaine was giggling wildly.

Ban leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, much to the irritation of her overprotective brother, King.

Ban smirked and ruffled his shorter friend's hair, furthering infuriating him.

"Hey guys! Already pissed off with each other? I'll bet you haven't even been here five minutes." Meliodas said.

King crossed his arms and mumbled something unintelligible.

"Sorry we're a bit late." Meliodas added. "These girls took forever to get ready." He gestured over his shoulder.

It was only then that King noticed the presence of the other girls. He immediately glanced over in shock and locked eyes with Diane. He turned away immediately after, his cheeks flushing slightly pink.

' _What's his problem?'_ Diane thought, feeling a bit irritated. However, she still couldn't fight the feeling of recognition when she looked at King. She just couldn't figure out for the life of her where she knew him.

Diane took a seat next to Elaine and across from King, while Meliodas and Elizabeth sat on the opposite side of the table.

Their waiter noticed the rest of the party had arrived and came back around almost immediately.

"Three beers please." Meliodas stated proudly, causing Ban to smirk excitedly and King to shoot him a glare.

"That's what I'm talking about." Ban said excitedly, obviously excited to get the festivities of the day started.

"Isn't it a bit early to be drinking?" King mumbled.

"Lighten up King!" Meliodas slapped his back. "It's 5 O'clock somewhere!"

The waiter narrowed his eyes, obviously very skeptical of their ages. "Can I see some ID please?"

Ban and Meliodas both enthusiastically pulled their IDs from their wallets while King sluggishly retrieved his.

Once the waiter had all of their IDs, he studied them very closely. After awhile, he was unable to find any flaw with them and hesitantly handed them back. "Any preference on what brand?" He said briskly.

"Whatever's on special works for us." Meliodas proclaimed for them.

Elizabeth, Elaine, and Diane ordered themselves water, all not feeling up to drinking this early in the day.

After completing their drink order, the waiter whisked himself away to start working on grabbing their beverages.

"Oh come on King, stop being such a lame and old geezer." Ban immediately went right back to teasing his older friend.

King shot him a another glare before pulling his menu up to cover his face.

Diane began scanning over the menu, unsure of what to actually order. She was embarrassed to admit that she had never had any Mexican food before. They had no Mexican restaurants where she was from.

"Ever had authentic Mexican food before?" Elizabeth asked her roommate as if reading her mind.

Diane bit her lip nervously. "No I haven't, actually."

"Do you like pork?"

Diane nodded enthusiastically. Pork was actually one of her favorite foods.

"Here." Elizabeth pointed to a selection on the menu.

Diane followed her finger and read the item out loud. "Pork Carnitas?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"I'll try it!" She happily declared, closing her menu. She reached over and grabbed a chip to munch on. She was starving but decided to make a conscious effort to take it slow while eating. She didn't want anyone to suspect anything off about her. Giants had ridiculously huge appetites. If she ate as much food as she normally did, it would certainly draw attention amongst her new friends.

The waiter returned and set their drinks down on the table. One by one he went around the table and took in their orders. Once he had made a complete round around the table, he gathered up their menus and once again whisked himself away.

"We should see if we have any classes together." Meliodas said once they were alone again.

The group pulled out their schedules and laid them out on the table side by side. Unfortunately only a couple classes were shared between a few of their group's members.

"Looks like Ban and I have College Algebra together at 8AM Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays." Meliodas said excitedly. He was obviously happy to have a class with his best friend.

"Why the heck would you sign up for an 8AM class anyways? You guys will never attend that…" King mumbled.

"Meh, like it matters. Everyone knows I'm just here to meet the ladies anyways." The blonde-haired leader of the group reached over and casually grabbed at Elizabeth's chest. In response she squeaked and pushed his hand away.

"And I'm just here for my sweet Elaine." Ban leaned over and hugged the blonde girl.

King rolled his eyes, obviously not wanting to hear anything about Ban's love for his little sister. He looked back down at the schedules again. His heart began to beat faster as he noticed him and Diane had a class together. It was a soccer class to fill the physical fitness requirement of both their degree plans. King didn't particularly care for any sports, but he had to sign up for a physical class in order to complete his degree requirements. He sighed to himself, although he was happy to spend the extra time with Diane, he wasn't particularly good at any sort of sports. He knew he would certainly make a fool out of himself.

' _Man… why couldn't I have signed up for something like Walking for Fitness or something… I just had to go with soccer.'_

King found the sport of soccer interesting. He liked watching the humans play it but didn't think he had the physical ability to play it himself. Maybe he could play goalie or something and get away with using his magic without people knowing.

"Look! King! We have a class together!" Diane proclaimed, confirming what King already knew.

He forced himself to smile in response. "Yep!"

Meliodas leaned over towards Diane and whispered. "King is really bad at sports. He's super lazy and physically unfit."

King growled, gritting his teeth. "Seriously!? You know I can hear you, right? Gees, why do I hang out with you guys again?"

"Because we're the most loveable group of people you'll ever meet." Meliodas gave the table a thumbs up.

Ban nodded, a smirk on his features.

King sighed, laying his head down on the table. "You guys are ridiculous."

"Look, girls! It looks like we have a class together as well. We'll be spending a couple of hours together on Tuesday and Thursday!" Elaine said excitedly.

"Yay! I'm so excited for this semester!" Diane cheered, her pigtails bobbing as she swayed her head.

Elizabeth smiled widely in agreement.

It had always been Diane's dream to attend college and make friends. She had been lonely most of her life and was embarrassed to admit she felt rather uneducated. Attending college had been the most perfect solution she could have hoped for and thanks to Merlin, it was all very real and possible.

' _Merlin…'_

Diane wondered briefly where the older woman had gone. She hadn't seen Merlin since she was given a bottle of the shrinking pills. Merlin was an alumna of the school and was very involved with the school's events. Diane thought for sure she would have been there to greet her upon arrival yesterday but she was no where to be seen. She also had not answered any of her text messages.

Diane reached down into her purse and grabbed her phone again, flipping the screen on again. There was some brief glimmer of hope that maybe Merlin had texted back by now. However, there was no message to be found. The giantess frowned, feeling slightly worried. She tucked her phone back into her purse.

"You guys hungry?" Their waiter appeared, bearing their food. He began setting their plates down one by one until everyone had a plate of food in front of them. "Everything look good?" He asked, while refilling the girls' water with a pitcher.

The group nodded excitedly.

"Great! I'll be back in a few minutes to check on you all."

"Man, I don't know how you two live with yourselves." Ban said.

"What do you mean, Ban?" Elaine replied, sticking a tomato in her mouth.

"You and King. How do you guys live without eating meat? Pork, beef, chicken…. It's all so delicious." Ban shoved a large bite of chicken enchilada in his mouth.

King shrugged, giving Ban a lazy gaze. "We have always lived like this. I don't have any desire to try any meat."

Elaine nodded in agreement. "I don't think we're missing out. This vegetable fajita is delicious. Besides, we grew up with a love of all creatures. I think it would be too hard for us to bear the thought of eating a once living creature."

"You know, all those vegetables used to be living too. Hypocrites." Ban poked fun of their lifestyle choice.

King rolled his eyes but said nothing in response.

"You two are vegetarians?" Diane asked. "Does it bother you that we're eating meat?"

Elaine shook her head. "Not at all. King and I are respectful of all lifestyles."

Meliodas smirked. "Were your parents hippies or something?"

Elaine giggled, giving her brother a knowing gaze. "Something like that."

"So, Diane, what were your parents like?" Elizabeth asked, trying to shift the conversation away from King and Elaine. The group's questions were starting to sound a bit prying and judgmental of the siblings.

"My parents…" Diane started, her eyes drifting upwards thoughtfully. "I don't… I don't really remember them." It had been almost a millennia since her parents had tragically passed. She was adopted and raised by her village's captain of the Giant's guard, Matrona. "I was very young when they passed away."

Elizabeth's eyes filled with sorrow. She hadn't meant to bring anything painful up. "I'm so sorry…"

Diane smiled. "It's okay! Like I said, I don't really remember them. I was raised by a family friend in their stead."

"What was he like?"

Diane hesitated before answering. The truth was that Matrona was a warrior and had trained Diane to fight. She had been raised to believe humankind was evil and that she should never be too trusting. Diane had disagreed with her and ultimately broke away from her to go and live on her own. Diane loved humans. Like any species and race, there would always be good eggs and bad eggs. It was a terrible thing to judge an entire group of the actions of a few. It was obvious that their would good humans in the world for the entire short time she had been at the university, she had felt welcomed by Elizabeth, Meliodas, Ban, Elaine and King. "She was… passionate." She said simply, before taking a bite of her pork carnitas. She chewed for a moment before responding, "Elizabeth, this is amazing!"

"Isn't it? I thought you might like it!"

King gazed over at Diane and wondered. Did she remember him? It had been many centuries ago that they had first met and spent time together. _'Of course she doesn't…'_ He thought sadly to himself. He himself had cast the spell on her to make her forget him. He did it to protect her; there were a lot of people after him at the time. Hanging around Diane would have only put her in danger. But why now had fate caused them to cross paths again? He had recognized her the minute he saw her yesterday. So many emotions he had not felt in ages flooded to the surface. She was as beautiful as he remembered and her personality could still light up a room _. 'But how did she shrink herself to be so small?'_ Completely involved his thoughts, King barely noticed Ban take a bite of his foot from the corner of his eye.

"Hey!" He yelped, snapping out of his thoughts. "That's my food!"

Ban ignored the king's protests. "You're right Elaine, this is pretty good."

Elaine put a hand over her mouth and giggled.

"If you doze off in the middle of lunch, I'm going to eat your food. Ever heard the phrase 'you snooze you lose'?"

"I wasn't dozing off!" King growled. Ban really knew how to get under his skin and fluster him.

"Everything okay over here?" Their waiter returned to ask.

" _NO!"_  
"Yep!"

Ban and King both shouted at the same time causing the waiter to laugh nervously and walk away.

"Now now, you two. Save your bickering for when we're not in public." Meliodas chided.

King mumbled something to himself and then continued eating.

"Did everyone get their books already?" Elizabeth asked the group. "Diane and I are going after lunch to get ours."

"King and I already got ours." Elaine replied.

"I'll get mine later." Ban said, yawning. Diane wondered if Ban had any intention of getting his books since classes started tomorrow.

"I'll go with you girls. I still have to show you around campus anyways." Meliodas replied.

"Thank you Meliodas!" Elizabeth smiled appreciatively.

"It's no problem at all. I'll just require payment from you Elizabeth."

"Payment?" Elizabeth tilted her head curiously.

Meliodas smirked before leaning forward and grabbed her chest without shame.

"KYAHH!" Elizabeth squeaked, causing the whole restaurant to look their direction.

King spit the beer out he was drinking. "C-captain!"

Elaine covered her face and blushed while Ban laughed hysterically.

Diane grit her teeth in embarrassment. "Gees, you two…" She turned and beckoned over their waiter. "I think it's time we got our check."

Their waiter nodded in agreement, not really enjoying the ruckus they were raising.

* * *

Diane yawned, casually slinging her bag of books over her shoulder. Elizabeth followed, looking physically drained from the weight.

"Here." Diane said softly, taking Elizabeth's bag from her hands. "I'll carry it."

"Y-you don't have to do that!" Elizabeth replied, flustered.

"I don't mind." Diane laughed and kept walking.

Elizabeth reluctantly nodded and began following again. "You're very strong Diane."

"Thank you! I try to work out everyday."

Elizabeth scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Um… I grew up with a lot of money so I'm not very self-sufficient. I envy you."

Diane laughed, her pigtails bouncing up and down. "I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they envy me." She turned back to look at her silver-haired friend. "So what's it like being the governor's daughter?"

"It's…" Elizabeth started and then trailed off. "It's nice. I'm very blessed."

Diane rolled her eyes. "Elizabeth, I've only known you a couple days now, but you're so obvious when you lie. It's okay to be unhappy with your situation."

Elizabeth didn't reply immediately. They approached the door to the building and she pulled out her key to open the door. Once they were already inside and heading up the stairs she finally replied. "I wouldn't say I'm unhappy, I just wonder what a normal childhood would have been like. There is always a lot of media attention on my family and I feel like everyone is overly nice to me."

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't you like people being nice to you?"

"Because it's fake and forced. I can tell they're not being genuine."

Diane nodded. "That makes sense. I never thought about it like that." She pulled open the door to their floor.

"Father was always really protective of my sisters and I. We would always hear stories of the children of wealthier families being abducted and held for ransom. Because of this, we didn't get to participate in a lot of activities growing up. Can you believe I've never played a sport?"

"Wow…" Diane whistled. "That definitely doesn't sound like fun. How were you able to convince him to let you go to college?"

Elizabeth chuckled. "Honestly, I don't fully understand it myself. But my father knows Meliodas will watch over me. He won't let any harm come to me ever." She unlocked the door to their room and they both headed inside. Elizabeth closed the door behind them.

Diane smiled, setting their books down on the ground. "I won't let any harm come to you either, Elizabeth."

The silver-haired girl blushed and nodded. "You're a great person, Diane. I'm so glad to have met you."

"I don't think I'm that great. I'm just doing what any friend would do."

"And I appreciate it. Another reason I've hated growing up the way I did is because people would pretend to be my friend to get at my family's fortune. Meliodas, Ban, Elaine, King and now you are so special to me. You are all so genuine."

Diane stuck her tongue out playfully. "You are too kind Elizabeth. I'm lucky to have met you." Diane walked over to the mirror and let her pigtails down. "Speaking of Meliodas, where did he run off to? I thought he was planning on spending the evening with us."

Elizabeth sat down on the bed, playing with her earring absent-mindedly. "I thought so too. He got a text message from King though and said he had to go. It seemed really serious. I hope everything is okay."

Diane walked over and plopped down on the bed next to her. "Don't worry, Elizabeth. I'm sure everything's fine. It's probably just some stupid thing for their fraternity." She stuck her tongue out playfully. "Besides, you're totally bad at hiding that you've got major feelings for Meliodas."

Elizabeth blushed, grabbing a pillow and smacking Diane with it.

"Hey!" Diane giggled. "I know I'm onto something. You wouldn't be so defensive if I wasn't speaking the truth."

Elizabeth huffed. "I can't wait until you have a crush on someone. I'm going to tease you to no end."

"Bring it on girl, I don't get crushes easily. A guy really has to wow me get my attention." She leaned over and gently nudged Elizabeth in the ribs. "Don't get your hopes up." She stood up and walked over to her own bed, retrieving her phone from her purse before lying down. She flipped on the screen again, seeing if Merlin had perhaps texted her back yet. There was no message. Diane sighed, setting her phone down on the nightstand.

' _Where are you, Merlin?'  
_

* * *

"And you're sure your information is accurate on this matter?" Meliodas voice took an authoritative tone as he talked to the taller woman.

"Confident. They're meeting tonight. I overheard some of the faculty speaking of it quietly in the lunchroom."

King gave Ban and Meliodas a smirk. "Guess you two aren't making your 8AM class tomorrow."

Meliodas smiled back. "Yeah, probably not. But we all know the real reason we came to this town. Attending college was a cover."

Ban placed his hands on the back of his head, leaning back to look upwards thoughtfully. "Hard to believe it's taken years for everything to come to fruition."

"Will Gowther be attending this mission with you guys?" Merlin asked.

Meliodas shook his head. "We will need to keep a low profile. Gowther is terrible at 'reading the atmosphere.'. He would blow our cover wide open."

Merlin chuckled to herself. "Of course." She turned to gaze out the window absent-mindedly. "By the way, I've been watching your activities the past two days. I see you have already met the giantess, Diane?"

Meliodas nodded. "What about her?"

"I brought her here for a reason. She is an amazing fighter, she'll be useful to your cause." She turned and looked back at their captain. "When the time is right, bring her into the group. Once the final battle happens, we will need all the hands we can get."

"But…" King started, obviously unhappy about putting Diane in any potential danger.

"Don't let your emotions cloud your judgment, Fairy King." Merlin said curtly. "I know the giantess and you have a past."

King's eyes widened. "How do you-?"

"I know all about a lot of things, King. You should know this by now."

Meliodas and Ban both gave the fairy king and Merlin a confused look.

King looked downwards towards his feet. He was very irritated with Merlin for bringing Diane into the mix.

"So to recap, they are meeting tonight at midnight at the Lions Football Stadium. This is a stealth mission, so we are only gathering information. If any of you blow your cover, everything we've worked for for years could be thrown away. I trust you all will be careful?" Merlin addressed the group.

They all nodded and then Ban sighed. "I don't like it but I'll be good." He then grumbled to himself. "I was really looking for a good fight though…"

"Not coming with us, Merlin?" Meliodas asked.

She smiled coolly. "I'm afraid not. Perhaps next time. I have my own information gathering to do tonight. Goodbye guys." Before anyone could respond, she snapped her fingers, quickly vanishing before their eyes.

"Alright guys, we have a mission to accomplish. I will go over the game plan."

Ban and King nodded, both obviously eager to hear their captain's plans.

* * *

Another chapter completed! Thank you all for your kind words. If anyone noticed, I actually went back and rewrote the first chapter. None of the information changed, it just seemed super choppy and didn't flow well. I tried to rework some things so now it reads a lot better.

 _Next chapter: Classes begin for the group of friends! Diane and Elizabeth's first day of college!_


	3. Chapter 3 - Classes Begin

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nanatsu no Taizai, The Seven Deadly Sins or King, unfortunately.**

 **No proofreader for this chapter. I apologize ahead of time for the mistakes. Read at your own risk!**

 **Chapter 3: Classes Begin**

King was having the most pleasant dream when the loud blaring of his alarm awoke him. He grumbled, reaching over and silencing the noise. Yawning, he pushed himself into a sitting position and stretched his arms.

' _7:35AM…'_

It was almost unbelievable that the summer break had gone so quickly. It seemed like just yesterday that he was finishing the last class of his junior year. "Only one more year to go…" The Fairy King grumbled to himself. Of course, going to school was just part of one big cover-up for their group to operate without causing suspicion. Their enemy needed to be dealt with this year or King would have to go for a Masters degree. Dedicating another few years to school didn't sound exactly appealing to him. He was ready to be back to the Fairy King's forest and back to his fellow fairies.

In the modern era, the Fairy King wasn't expected to be present at the forest at all times. The current era was relatively peaceful and nothing evil had threatened the forest in a couple thousand years. If the forest were to be attacked, modern technology made it relatively simple for the fairies to let their King know they were in trouble.

"And you make it possible for me to get right back to my people, huh boy?" King whispered quietly, patting Oslo's head.

The black hound looked up at his master and friend, licking his hand before sighing contently and lying back down.

Most fairies didn't live in the forest full time; they all had their own lives amongst the humans. Many went to school while others worked full time. Fairies were magical beings, fascinated with the lives of humans. Some even acted as tooth fairies or Santa Claus for human children growing up. King was very proud of what his people had accomplished. He truly felt they were making the world a better place. He felt they made the human children more hopeful and full of wonder.

Every summer, what little population of fairies were left would return to the Fairy King's forest and tell stories of the lives they had touched.

King sighed again, stretching.

He couldn't touch the lives of the humans as his people did. No, he was a warrior. Which is why he had joined Meliodas' group of supernatural beings that silently protected the humans from unimaginable threats. King's ability Disaster and his ability to wield the Chastiefol, a holy weapon forged for him by the Sacred Tree in the fairy realm, was priceless to the group. In return, the group gave him purpose and an outlet to use his powers for good.

When his younger sister, Elaine, had heard of his ambitions to join the infamous group, she had stubbornly followed him. There she met and fell in love with a group mate, Ban.

King grumbled at the thought, although Ban seemed to genuinely care for his little sister, no man alive was good enough for her. She was beautiful, kind and powerful. There was many times throughout his life that she was left alone to guard their beloved home and the fountain of eternal life. This had earned her the title of Guardian Saint. King had always felt guilty for those years he had left her alone and was kind of glad she was out experiencing the world and falling in love. He tolerated her relationship with Ban for this reason.

King rubbed his eyes and yawned one last time before floating into the bathroom adjacent to his room. He always liked to fly around his apartment, even though there was little space for it. He didn't get to fly outside, if he did so he might get captured in locked in some circus attraction for the humans. He picked up his toothbrush and lazily spread toothpaste on the end before brushing his teeth.

He glanced up at his appearance and fought a sigh. His face looked tired as always. He could never seem to get enough sleep. Perhaps it was his age, although his eternal Youth would prevent him from ever aging, his mind was mentally thousands of years old.

King spit into the sink, rinsing his toothbrush before setting it back on the counter. He floated back into his bedroom and changed into a zip up hoodie, shorts and tennis shoes. He then located his backpack and floated over and gently landed next to it. The Fairy King bent over and slipped it onto his back and then approached his nightstand and grabbed his phone. As he flipped it on, he noticed a message from the captain of their group.

' _Meeting this evening at six o'clock sharp. Please meet at my place so we can go over some of the intelligence we gathered last night.'_

The text message had come from the night before, after King had long fallen asleep. There was no way in hell Meliodas and Ban were up at this hour.

King tapped on his phone, typing up his response. _'I'll see everyone there.'_

He gave one last glance towards Chastiefol, not exactly happy to leave his sacred treasure behind but even in its pillow form it wasn't exactly a normal item to be carrying around.

As he walked out the door, he had to make a mental effort not to let himself lazily float up into the air. Flying was as natural for him as breathing. It didn't feel right having his feet touch the ground. As he walked, he reached into his pocket pulling out a crumbled piece of paper.

' _Let's see… Cryptogamic Botany… Room 321 of the science building.'_ Luckily for King, the walk to campus wasn't far and it wasn't long before he had already arrived at his destination. As he walked through the doors of the building, a familiar face immediately caught his attention.

"Harlequin!"

"Elaine!" King smiled, happy to see his sister for once without Ban by her side. It was both odd and relieving to hear someone speak his true name for once.

"I'm surprised to see you up at this hour." Elaine smiled, shifting her weight

King rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, I may be lazy but I'm not irresponsible. Besides, I can always take a nap after my classes."

Elaine's smile widened. "Very true."

"You have a class now?"

"Yup! Chemistry I, actually."

King whistled. "That's a hard one. If you need any help though you can always ask your big brother." The Fairy King was filled with pride. His sister was going to school to become a nurse so she could help humans with their injuries and illnesses. His sister was very kind; that sort of work would come very naturally to her.

"Thank you! I 'm really eager to be out of class already, though. I'm meeting Diane and Elizabeth for breakfast."

' _Diane…'_ King couldn't help the mental image of her beautiful face popping up in his head.

As if reading his thoughts, Elaine frowned, glancing downwards at her feet. "So she truly doesn't remember you, huh?"

King sighed. "N-no, she doesn't. But it's okay! Diane deserves so much better than me anyways!"

The murderous look his cute little sister shot him could probably kill. King swallowed nervously and instinctively took a step back.

"Brother, if I didn't know you were already hurting I would slap you across the face. Maybe that would knock some sense into you. I understand why you made her forget you, but don't ever claim you weren't good enough for her. " Elaine scolded the Fairy King, her hands placed firmly on her hips.

"I guess you're right." He agreed, but his voice didn't sound very convincing.

"Cheer up, Harlequin. At least now you get another chance with her." She shifted the weight of her backpack over her shoulders. "I'll see you later!"

"Bye Elaine!" King waved. He turned around to head towards his class, a frown crossing the features of his youthful face. _'Another chance with Diane…?'_ The thought hadn't occurred to him. Circumstances were definitely different than they had been before. But were they any better? Now he was involved with a dangerous group that trouble seemed to follow.

' _I guess it doesn't matter how I feel. Merlin intends on roping Diane into this mess whether I like it or not.'_ He furrowed his eyebrows in frustration. At least the first day of classes were usually uneventful. He could spend the majority of his classes mulling over his feelings for Diane.

* * *

"Man! Classes have been so boring so far." Diane complained, stretching her arms out. "We haven't done anything but go over the syllabus!"

Elaine chuckled at her friend. "Welcome to the first day of the semester. It will be like this for every class, every semester."

Diane frowned, and then took a sip of water. "I guess that makes sense, but it's so boring." She sighed, thinking a moment before continuing. "But… I think I will try to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm terrified of how hard college will be. They always try to drill that into your head after you graduate high school." Diane was especially nervous. It had been so long since she had had any sort of education. Giants didn't rank education as high as knowing how to whoop ass.

"At least our next class is together. We'll find some way to make it fun." Elaine grinned, a twinkle in her eyes.

"Oh yeah! What class is that again?" Diane reached into her bag to pull out a crumpled schedule.

"Nutrition." Elaine answered.

"Oh yeah, Nutrition." Diane shoved the schedule back into her backpack. "Well, at least that's the class to have together. We can constantly feel bad about all the processed and junk food we put into our body on the daily basis."

"And I'm sure some 'expert' classmate will pipe in about how vegetarianism is unhealthy and how vegetarians can't get proper nutrition." Elaine muttered, rolling her eyes.

"I'm no vegetarian myself Elaine, but if anyone messes with you…" Diane punched her open hand playfully. "I will beat them up myself."

Elaine giggled and then stopped when she noticed Elizabeth was being unusually quiet. "You okay, Ellie?"

Elizabeth, who had been worriedly staring at her phone, looked up. She immediately smiled, putting on her normal cheerful front. "I'm fine! I'm sorry I'm being rude."

"Elizabeth, I can tell when somebody is being dishonest." Elaine glared at her friend.

"Y-you can?" Elizabeth asked, blushing slightly.

"Yep! Call it my own little super power." The fairy winked, tapping her forehead. "I always know when someone is lying."

Elizabeth's eyes floated downwards and she took a deep breath before answering. "It's Meliodas… I'm worried him."

Diane frowned. "What do you mean? Something happen?"

"Well…" Elizabeth started, before giving an unsure smile. "Well you know how Meliodas owns a bar, right?"

"Meliodas owns a bar?!" Diane cut in, surprised before covering her mouth in embarrassment. "Oh… sorry. Continue, Elizabeth."

"Well that bar is his life. He would never do anything to hurt his business there but lately it's been closed every night. Once, I was curious so I decided to go by his place and to my surprise he wasn't there."

"Hmm…" Elaine replied, leaning back in her chair thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it, Ban has been acting strange lately too. It seems like he's been going off with my brother and Meliodas every night."

"Out with Meliodas and King?" Elizabeth asked, surprised. "Well at least I know he's with his friends but…"

"But what is so important that Meliodas would close the bar?" Elaine finished. "I'm curious now too. I'm definitely going to ask Ban when I see him later what he's been up to. I will let you know what I find out but in the meantime, don't worry about it Ellie. Nothing is going to happen to Meliodas." Elaine secretly wished she could tell Elizabeth about their powers. They weren't an ordinary group of individuals. And Harlequin was so responsible, even sometimes borderline strict. There was no way there were getting into trouble or doing anything illegal.

Elizabeth smiled, seemingly satisfied with her friend's response. "Thank you Elaine! I would appreciate that."

"So, Meliodas owns a bar?" Diane asked, changing the subject back.

The two girls laughed. "Yep! Actually, King, Elizabeth, and Ban all work there too." Elaine explained.

"Really?!"

"Yep! Elizabeth is a cocktail waitress, Meliodas is the bartender, Ban is a cook and King is the manager of the place."

"King is the manager? Why not Meliodas, the owner?" Diane asked.

Elizabeth coughed while Elaine couldn't hold back her laughter. "I guess you don't really know Meliodas that well yet."

Elaine leaned over, whispering in the giantess' ear "He's probably one of the least responsible people I know."

"Oh." Diane said lamely before nodding. "So you work at the bar then, Elizabeth?"

The silver-haired girl nodded. "Yep!"

"Do you think they would have any other openings for a waitress?"

Elizabeth smiled excitedly. "Sure! I'll talk to Meliodas. We could always use more hands. It will be a lot busier now that college courses are back in session."

"Thank you!" Diane replied before turning to Elaine. "So, Elaine, you don't work at the bar too?"

Elaine shook her head. "No, King is too protective. He doesn't like some of the bar patrons, apparently."

Diane nodded in agreement. She tried to picture little Elaine inside some dark, smoke-filled bar but couldn't. Drunken people tended to be grabby too, so it was no wonder King wouldn't be happy about her working there.

"Also, my brother wants me to be able to focus on school full-time. I want to become an RN someday!"

"King is very kind for working hard for you, Elaine." Elizabeth said.

"Yeah! Definitely."

"Forgive me for asking Elizabeth, but based off of who your parents are, why do you need the work?" Diane asked, tilting her head curiously.

Elizabeth scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Well… it is true that I don't ever have to worry about money. However, I want to be self-sufficient and be able to rely on myself instead of my parents."

"That makes sense." Diane's smile widened. She truly admired her two friends, both of them having huge hearts full of kindness. Diane felt like a bit of an outsider compared to those two. Although she had always been known as a giant with a softer side, she still had been raised most of her life to fight. It was the way of her clan.

Diane glanced down at her wristwatch before letting out a quiet yelp. "Oh no! We have a class to get to. We wasted way too much time sitting here talking!" She immediately stood up and then leaned over to throw all of her trash onto her tray.

The other two girls exchanged a worried glance, and stood up as well. They all hurriedly dumped their trays in the appropriate place and took off for their Nutrition class.

* * *

King yawned sleepily before burying his face in Chastiefol's pillow form. While his comrades had slept in most of the day, King had attended all his classes. He was still pretty tired from the late night before. He lazily floated upwards until he situated himself in the very corner of the room. It was impossible to get any shuteye, however, as Meliodas, Ban and Gowther were loudly conversing. Escanor quietly sat on the couch, looking visibly nervous while Merlin typed away on her laptop. The Fairy King sat up again, stretching.

"Are we ever going to get this meeting started? Some of us are exhausted."

Merlin looked up from her laptop, shrugged and then closed it. She stood up and walked over towards the group and cleared her throat.

"Yeah, yeah."Meliodas muttered, pushing himself to his feet. He walked to the front of the room and waited for Gowther and Ban to quiet down. "Last night, King, Ban and I overheard a group of our targets speaking. They call themselves 'The Holy Knights', ironically."

"The Holy Knights?" Gowther asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Merlin smirked, crossing her arms. "That's an interesting name they've chosen for themselves."

The Fairy King had to agree. The Holy Knights were a vicious group of creatures and humans, bent on resurrecting demons to the world. They were power-hungry and doubtless many human lives would be lost if they succeeded.

Their own group, The Sins, included a fairy, an undead, a doll, a sorceress, a human and a demon. They originally formed to protect humanity from supernatural creatures and threats. The Holy Knights were powerful and King was confident The Sins were the only group that could stop them from succeeding with their plans.

They had first heard about The Holy Knights approximately five years while on a trip to slaughter some vampires that were tormenting a rural town. On his deathbed, one of the vampires had mentioned he belonged to a group dedicated to resurrecting the demon clan. From there, Merlin was able to track the origin to the group to the university town of Liones. Intel gathering had taken years but they were finally getting closer to the leaders of the group.

"Somehow they've acquired the body of a red demon and are consuming its blood to gain unimaginable powers seemingly overnight."

"A r-red demon?" Escanor asked from the corner of the room, obviously uncomfortable with any sort of attention from the room. "But they supposedly died off thousands of years ago…"

Meliodas nodded. "True, but demonic bodies do not decay. They probably were able to find a buried body somewhere."

Ban twisted his face in disgust imagining people drinking from a corpse a few thousand years old.

"Even with their enhanced powers, they still are no match for us. However, I worry that if we are unable to locate and destroy the corpse, they might eventually create a powerful demonic army. We would be completely outnumbered and the human race would most certainly be in danger."

"So any clue where they are keeping the corpse?" Merlin pressed.

Meliodas shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

Merlin and Escanor both sighed in unison.

"There is still hope though. One of the Holy Knights present at the meeting last night might have an idea where the corpse is. If one of us could follow her she might just reveal the position of the corpse." Meliodas said optimistically.

"And who do you propose take on this mission?" Merlin asked, her voice cool.

"King, of course! He's the perfect man… er fairy… for the job, don'tcha think?"

King had been sleepily half-listening to their discussion when he overhead his name being volunteered. His eyes widened before he shot a glare towards their captain. "Why me?!" He was already sleepy enough and if he lost anymore shut eye he would have a hard time staying awake in his classes.

Meliodas seemed unfazed by the fairy's glaring. "Because you don't make a sound when you fly. Secondly, you can transform to hide your identity."

King sighed, Meliodas did have a good point. "Fine…" He muttered, burying his face into Chastiefol.

"Great! You should probably start shadowing her tonight?!"

"Tonight!?" King yelped.

"Yeah, tonight. Time is of the essence. We need to find that corpse as soon as possible."

"Fine." King repeated and began floating towards the front door of the room. "I'll report back if I see/hear anything."

Meliodas gave the fairy king a mock salute and King disappeared into the night.

* * *

 _Next Chapter: King gathers some information about The Holy Knights and Diane begins working at the Boar Hat._

 _Another chapter down! My first chapter got so many reviews and I only got 1 for the second chapter. Did you all enjoy it? Let me know if I should keep it going!_


	4. Chapter 4 - Poor, Old Heart

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nanatsu no Taizai, The Seven Deadly Sins or King, unfortunately.**

 **No proofreader for this chapter. I apologize ahead of time for the mistakes. Read at your own risk!**

 **Chapter 4: Poor, Old Heart**

The night was starry and beautiful. A full moon shown in the sky and illuminated the Earth below. The air was cool with the occasional breeze ruffling The Fairy King's hair. In the distance, he could hear the soft chirping of crickets.

The atmosphere was perfect for slumber. That, combined with how tired he felt, made it that much harder to keep his lids from fluttering shut.

It didn't help that his target seemed to be taking her sweet time leaving her apartment.

King was a good distance away and was careful to remain in the shadows. He sat within a tree, leaning his head casually into Chastiefol's pillow form. The pillow form was a green with darker green leopard prints, perfect for blending in with the foliage of the tree.

As if on queue, he suddenly heard the sound of a door squeaking open.

"I'll be back soon, Zeal. Stay out of trouble." His target spoke to someone.

"I will, sister!" King could hear the voice of a young child reply to her.

"I know, you always do."

King heard the door shut and the sound of footsteps heading his direction. He slowly sat up, very careful not to make any sound. He watched as she walked passed him, completely unaware of his presence. King slid out of the tree and kept himself from hitting the ground by levitating a few inches off of it.

Her cell phone began to ring suddenly and instinctively she glanced around to make sure no one was within listening distance. King quickly ducked behind the closest object, which unfortunately for him happened to be a trashcan. He held his breath to avoid breathing in the stench.

Once she was satisfied no one was around, she answered the phone.

"Hello?" There was a long pause after she answered as she listened to the person on the other end. "Jericho? Really?" Another pause. "No, no. I'm not questioning you. If you think that is the right step I will follow your orders without question, sir." She nodded into the phone a few more times. "Alright, I'm on my way now." As she hung up the phone, King made a mental note of the name Jericho. Merlin could look up this person's identity in the school's system.

The tall and dark-haired woman began to walk again. King once again began to trail her. He followed her what felt like a mile and a half. She ended up off of campus and went deep into a forest on the edge of town. They crossed over a creek and over a few hills before eventually arriving at a large cave.

"Wow…" King whispered to himself. The cave was massive and he had no idea such a thing existed so close to town.

The woman headed inside and King quietly followed. The cave was cool and very damp inside. It smelled earthy and water dripped from the ceilings. Eventually she arrived in a clearing within the cave and there were a group of other people but King couldn't make out who they were. It was too dark in the cave. He found a safe hiding spot behind a rock and watched them carefully.

One of the figures suddenly flipped on a flashlight, and King was able to see the group. The one holding the flashlight was none other than Hendrickson, the University's vice president. Two unknown men held a small silver-haired girl in chains. They had her mouth gagged and she made muffled attempts to scream.

"We're going to take your gag off. Do not scream, Jericho." The dark-haired woman spoke.

' _So that's Jericho? I wonder if she's a student… What are they going to do to her?'_ King mentally made the decision to help her if the group began to hurt her. He knew The Sins wouldn't be happy with his actions but ultimately he couldn't stand idly by if they tortured or attempted to kill her.

The woman removed Jericho's gag, and surprisingly she didn't scream. Instead she was quite angry.

"What are you doing Guila?! What is the meaning of this? My brother will—"

"Shhh." The woman shushed her. "We brought you here today for a good reason. We would be happy for you to join our elite fighting force."

Jericho looked confused. "But… I'm already a Holy Knight Apprentice."

"Ah, yes. But tonight is your initiation." Guila pulled a key from her pocket and began unlocking the bounds that held the smaller girl.

"My… initiation?"

"That's right. You're very special, Jericho. Hendrickson himself has come to assist us."

Hendrickson approached her and kneeled. He placed a hand under her chin. "Tell me child, do you know why the Holy Knights exist?"

"To protect the innocent, sir!" Jericho answered eagerly.

"That's correct. But unfortunately, in order to take on such a monumental task, we need power. Our normal strength alone isn't enough to accomplish it."

"W-what do you mean?"

Hendrickson smiled and stood back up. He flashed his light towards the back of the cave.

King's stomach twisted in shock. In the back of the cave was the corpse of a gigantic red demon. It was long dead but its large yellow eyes were still wide open. He wondered how old the corpse was. Like the bodies of fairies, the bodies of demons never decompose after passing.

Jericho let out a scream. "W-w-what is THAT?!" She tried to stand up but the men next to her held her firmly in place.

"This… is power." Hendrickson pulled a knife from his pocket and sliced into the belly of the creature. A black and bubbly blood began pouring out of the wound. Hendrickson casually grabbed a cup from his satchel to catch it. After a few moments, the wound sealed back up. He walked back towards Jericho and kneeled again.

"What are you…" Jericho started and then trailed off.

"Drink. Drink and become a full-fledged member of the Holy Knights."

Jericho bit her lip and began trembling. "But…"

Hendrickson shook his head and sighed. "I thought you were ready. Your brother will be very disappointed to hear." He began to stand up but Jericho stopped him. She snatched the cup from his hands and eagerly drank it down.

A few seconds passed before Jericho let out a loud screech. She fell to the floor and began clutching her stomach while her body flopped around in protest.

"Now we see if Jericho is worthy of the gift." Hendrickson said coolly and then tossed the cup to the ground.

After some time of her flailing around, King was very confident she was going to die. Their group seemed to give up on her as well and began to leave.

"So this… is what true power feels like."

Guila turned around in surprise. "Jericho?"

Hendrickson smiled. "It looks like her body accepted the gift, after all. Guila, help Jericho back to her room. You two guard the body of the demon."

"Yes sir!" The men replied in unison.

' _Shit…'_ King bit his lip. It would be difficult to escape with everyone present. He would really need to play his cards right to get out of this unscathed. Although he was fairly confident he could take down most of their group on his own, he wasn't so sure about Hendrickson. He couldn't measure how much power was coming from Hendrickson and it made him very uneasy. He scooted around the rock as to stay completely out of sight as they walked by.

Once Guila, Jericho and Hendrickson were clear from the cave, King began coming up with a plan to elude the other two guarding the corpse. He looked around and noticed a pebble on the ground close to him.

' _Well… here goes nothing. Hopefully these guys are stupid._ ' He grabbed the pebble from the ground and tossed it behind the two men.

"What was that?!" They both quickly turned around and flipped on their flashlights.

King used the opportunity to quickly fly out of the cave. Once he made it back into the wooded area, he grabbed his phone from his pocket. He had to let the others know what he had seen.

* * *

Diane arrived at the soccer fields with plenty of time to spare. She wanted plenty of extra time to change into her athletic gear and put her hair up into a ponytail. In her tiny duffle bag she carried her soccer uniform and a pair of cleats and shin guards. She was relieved by the early morning weather; at least it wouldn't be too hot to play. As she headed into the ladies locker room, she was immediately met with the stares of two upperclassmen. One of the girls was tall and wore a white jersey with pink shorts. She had beautiful long black hair with a pink hair band. Her eyes remained in a squint. The other girl had short grey-ish blue hair, and wore no make up. If Diana weren't in the locker room, she might mistake the other female for a boy.

"Hello! I'm Diane." She greeted, trying to ease the tension.

The two girls exchanged a careful glance before relaxing a bit. The girl with the dark hair spoke first. "I'm Guila."

"And I'm Jericho."

"Nice to meet you! Have you girls ever played soccer before?" Diane asked, trying to make conversation. She approached an empty locker and stuck her things into it. Before closing the locker, she removed her cleats, sock, shin guards and uniform from the bag.

"Yep, Jericho and I have actually been playing our whole lives. We used to be quite competitive before college."

"Wow…" Diane mumbled, pulling off her tank top and then slipping the jersey on. "You might have to teach me a thing or two."

"You've never played before?" Jericho asked, shock clearly in her voice.

"Nope. You might even have to teach me the rules. I can't say I've even ever seen a match." Diane stuck her tongue out playfully. She approached a bench and sat down to begin putting her shin guards and socks on.

Jericho's jaw dropped in surprise. "You've never seen a soccer match?! Where are you from!?"

Guila shot her friend a glare for being so rude. "Don't worry, we will teach you. You look quite athletic, do you play any other sports?"

Diane shook her head, slipping a cleat on. "Nope, but I do try to keep in shape. I lift weights and do cardio."

Guila smiled. "I'm sure you'll learn fast, don't sweat it."

Diane nodded, happy that the girls were at least somewhat friendly. She finished tying her cleats and grabbed her water bottle. It was about time for class to start so they headed out onto the field. The other students were sitting on the bleachers, waiting for the coach to address the class.

Diane's eyes scanned the benches as she decided where to sit. Suddenly she spotted a familiar face and headed towards him. She had forgotten she had this class with King. He wore a bright green jersey with blue shorts and blue socks.

As she approached King, it became more and more apparent that he was fast asleep. He was slumped over, snoring softly to himself. Diane sighed, sitting down next to him. As she watched him, her mind couldn't help but float back to her conversation with Elaine and Elizabeth. It was obvious King had probably been up most of the night, but why? What could possibly so important that he would risk falling asleep in his classes?

As she wondered, the faint smell of roses began to fill her nose. Curious, she glanced around for the source and could not find any. It was only after a few moments that she realized the wonderful smell was coming from King. However, as much as she enjoyed his scent, she did find it a bit odd that he smelled of flowers.

"Alright class! Welcome to Taizai University's Soccer course. Many of you have different reasons for being here. Some of you would like to get fit, others just really enjoy the sport of soccer, but I'm aware most of you are just here to fulfill your P.E. credit for your degree. Don't worry, I plan on going thoroughly over the rules. All I ask is that you give your best everyday." The coach suddenly turned his attention towards Diane and then towards the sleeping form next to her. "It seems we already have a student who doesn't intend to give me his best effort."

All at once, all twenty-five students turned their attention back towards King. Diane bit her lip nervously, feeling bad for her new friend. She gently shook his shoulder to wake him.

King's eyes flew open and he sat up straight quickly. He perfectly collided with Diane's head, causing them both to recoil back in pain.

The class collectively laughed.

"How nice of you to join us." The coach said icily.

King didn't hear his words though. Diane was so close to him. He could feel his heart racing in his chest. He momentarily forgot the pain in his head. "S-s-sorry." He finally managed.

The coach seemed to think King was talking to him, but in reality his words were intended for Diane. The coach shrugged once more and began talking some more.

"It's okay." She whispered, rubbing her temples. "I've got a hard head, I won't feel this in five minutes or so."

King swallowed and then nodded in response. He tried to focus his attention towards their coach but he had a hard time processing anything he was saying. His thoughts were filled with Diane.

"So what's up with falling asleep on the first day anyways?" Diane whispered, teasing her friend.

"Late night." He said quietly, trying to avoid drawing further attention.

"I figured. Isn't it a bit early in the school year for you to be partying? Yesterday was only the first day." She smiled at him.

He couldn't help the smile that found its way to his own lips. "Meliodas and Ban would say it's never too early to start partying."

"That sounds exactly like something they would say."

The coach suddenly sighed as he noticed two of his students talking still. "What's your name, boy?" He said, addressing King.

Diane's face flushed in embarrassment. Once again they had the attention of the whole class.

"King."

"Well, King. I know many of you fraternity members do not give a damn about their grades but let me be clear. I will not be one of those cool teachers that let's you daydream your way through college. If you want your P.E. credit, you're going to have to earn it. That means showing up alert and attentive everyday."

King nodded, his face not losing its lazy expression.

The coach seemed satisfied with his attempt of making an example of King and kept talking. He began going over the rules of soccer. At one point he asked Guila and Jericho to help explain some things since they had prior experience in the sport.

It was only then that King noticed the presence of the two of them. He bit his lip and narrowed his eyes in disgust. If only the class knew what they were up to in their free time. From his place on the bleachers, he could feel the dark and ominous energy coming from the two of them.

All he could picture in his head were sight of Jericho drinking the blood and then her screams of anguish. The rest of the class was a blur.

After the coach felt confident in what he had taught, he dismissed the class. During the next class period they would have a pre-test to see where there knowledge of the sport was at the start of the course.

"Sorry I got you into trouble so many times…" Diane blushed, twirling her hair around her finger absent-mindedly.

"You didn't get me into trouble. I brought it upon myself by falling asleep in class." King replied, standing up and stretching once more.

She frowned. "But I'm sure it was still embarrassing to have all that attention on you like that." Diane stood up and began following her friend down the bleachers.

"It doesn't bother me. When you've lived as long as I have you don't get fazed by much."

"Lived as long as you have?" Diane asked, tilting her head curiously and crossing her arms behind her back.

King's mouth flopped open and he quickly shut it. "Er… I mean, you know, because I'm a senior and all."

"Ohhhh… That makes sense!" She turned her attention back ahead. "Man, I feel so silly getting into my soccer gear. We didn't even do anything today!"

King nodded. "Well, at least the whole class got changed for nothing and it wasn't just us." Secretly he was very glad they didn't have to endure any sort of physical activity that morning. He was barely holding it together and had to constantly fight to keep himself from falling asleep. He wasn't particularly a huge fan of sports and physical activity. Technically, he could blow the class off and fail it. After all, his ultimate responsibilities lie with the Sins and not his college education.

He sighed to himself. If only he had the will power to not be a wallflower for once in his life. King often wondered what it was like to live a carefree life like Meliodas and Ban.

' _At least I get to have this class with Diane…'_ King could feel his cheeks heating up slightly at the thought. She looked as beautiful as ever. Oh how he wished that he hadn't erased her memories. Maybe right now they would be walking side-by-side and holding hands instead.

"Hey Diane! If you want to practice with us sometime you're welcome to!" Guila approached the two of them and King instinctively stepped forward, ready to defend Diane if things went south.

"Sure! That would be great! I will definitely need the extra help."

"Here, let us see your phone. We'll put our numbers in." Jericho said.

"Sure!" Diane handed over her phone to the two girls. They quickly typed their numbers in and then handed it back.

"We'll see you around, Diane." Guila and Jericho waved as they departed.

King couldn't help the scowl he wore on his features. He didn't like the thought of those demons having Diane's number.

Diane seemed to sense the tension. "Everything okay, King?"

He looked back up towards her. "You should be careful who you trust."

Diane frowned. Did King know something about Jericho and Guila? He didn't seem to like the two of him but didn't elaborate further on what he said. "So you never answered me earlier." Diane chirped at him in an attempt to change the subject.

King snapped out of his thoughts. "Hm? About what?"

"About what were you doing last night?"

' _Crap… not this again.'_ The Fairy King thought to himself. He thought for sure he had thrown her off his trail earlier with his vague answers. "Oh… you know, hanging out with Meliodas and Ban."

"Drinking?"

"Yep!" He answered. Technically not a lie, although he himself didn't partake, Meliodas, Gowther and Ban had a few drinks.

Diane rolled her eyes. "Figures. I heard that you, Melidoas, Elizabeth and Ban run a bar together."

King laughed. "Well, I feel like I'm the one that MOSTLY runs it. Meliodas is our bartender, Elizabeth is a cocktail, and Ban cooks the food. I manage and do all the boring paperwork."

"Well then…" Diane suddenly spun around to face the fairy. She leaned over and winked while sticking her tongue out playfully.

King's eyes widened and he couldn't help the blush that covered his face. "Uhm…"

"You have any room for one more?"

King swallowed, too nervous to speak while Diane was only inches away from his face. Eventually he mustered up the energy to give her a shy nod.

"Great!" She shouted excitedly, causing The Fairy King to jump. She sat up straight and began rifling through her bag until she located the item she sought. "Here." She said as she handed him her phone. "Put your number in my phone. I'll send you a message so you have my number as well! Then just let me know when you would like me to start."

After a few moments, King was able to control his shaking enough to grab her phone. His mind was racing and he was embarrassed to admit to himself that he had temporarily forgotten his number. He took a deep breath and concentrated, eventually remembering his digits. When he was done, he handed her phone back to her.

"Yay!" Diane threw her arms around King, picked him up off the ground and squeezed him tightly into a hug. "Thank you King!" Before he could respond, Diane's phone began to ring. She promptly dropped him and he fell into a crumpled pile on the ground. "Oh! I'm sorry! I have to take this! Bye King!" With one last wave, she took off jogging away.

On the ground, King realized he wasn't breathing. She had been inches from his face, hugged him, and THEN asked for his number. He wasn't sure his heart could handle all that had just happened. Was it even still beating?

Minutes later, his own phone vibrated. Diane had sent him one simple message.

' _Heya King! It's Diane. (:'_

It was going to be a long semester for his poor, old heart.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight, you hired Diane without even consulting me first?!" Meliodas gave The Boar Hat's manager a glare before taking a swig of beer.

"I'm consulting you now, aren't I?" King replied calmly.

"Well then, the answer is no! We don't need another waitress for The Boar Hat. Elizabeth does just fine on her own."

"But…"

"King, you might be managing this place, but I'm the owner. I get the final say."

King frowned and nodded. How was he going to break the news to Diane?

Ban emerged from the kitchen and slung an arm around the fairy's shoulders. "Oh come on Meliodas, are you really going to keep our friend from getting laid?"

"B-Ban!" King squeaked in response. "It's not like that!"

Meliodas smirked. "I mean, that is a dilemma, and I'm certainly not in the business of cock-blocking my friends, but… we don't really need another waitress around her. Elizabeth is great!"

As if on cue, Elizabeth was heard yelping from the other room before there was a loud crash. The sound of shattered glass filled the bar.

Ban, Meliodas, and King quickly rushed out into the main area of the bar. Elizabeth lay in the middle of a pile of broken glass.

"I'm sorry Meliodas!" Elizabeth said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Don't move, Elizabeth." Meliodas commanded softly as he approached her. He leaned over and scooped her up in his arms to carry her bridal style. "You're hurt." He whispered softly, indicating a small slice on her ankle.

"It's fine… really… let me help clean up! I'm so sorry!"

"No worries! We're going to the office to get you cleaned up. King and Ban can take care of the cleanup."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. We'll take it from here." Ban agreed while King nodded.

"Thanks guys!" Meliodas flashed his famous smile at them before disappearing with Elizabeth.

When he was sure they were out of sight, King raised an arm into the air and used his magic to lift all the debris off the ground. The glass levitated across the room before landing safely in the trash can.

"Wow." Ban whistled. "Sometimes I envy you and Elaine. That magic business is some awesome stuff."

King laughed, turning his attention back towards Ban. "What, being immortal isn't enough for you?"

"Psh." Ban rolled his eyes. "Don't act like I'm so much better than you. How old are you now? 7000?"

King shot him a glare. "I'm not even close to that old. Don't be dramatic."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Meliodas reentered the room with Elizabeth following behind him. She had a small bandage wrapped around her ankle.

"Wow! You guys are done cleaning up already?" Elizabeth's gasped and her eyes widened in shock.

"It wasn't that bad. It didn't take us long at all since we worked together." King replied.

"King, message Diane and see if she can be here in an hour to start training. If she does well enough we can have her start working her first shift tonight."

"R-really?" King asked, bewildered as to why their captain would change his mind so quickly. Although, now that he thought about, Elizabeth's clumsiness might have something to do with it.

"Is Diane really going to work with me!?" Elizabeth shouted excitedly, throwing her arms around Meliodas.

Meliodas wasted no time before grabbing a handful of her breasts.

"KYAHH! M-Meliodas! Stop!"

* * *

"So… let's see… all I have to do is take orders and deliver drinks and serve food?" Diane asked.

"That's right!" Meliodas answered. "Simple as that!"

"So… then… what's with this outfit?" The giantess glanced down at her outfit giving it a puzzled look. The top was a yellow crop top that did little to hide the top of her breasts. She wore a very short skirt with one single stocking on one leg.

"That's The Boar Hat's mandatory uniform! Right Elizabeth?"

"R-right!" Elizabeth stood next to Diane, donning the same outfit but with a pink top instead. It was obvious she was used to the weird getup by now.

"Uhhh…" Diane bit her lip, still a bit unsure about the situation.

"Sorry about the captain. He's got some weird pervy tastes!" Ban approached and replied in his normal sing-song voice.

Meliodas rolled his eyes. "It's not pervy, it's distinguished." He crossed his arms and quickly changed the subject. "So, do you feel trained up enough to do your job tonight? It's a Thursday so at least it won't be super busy."

Diane gave him a mock salute. "I won't let you down!"

"Yo! Captain!" King's voice could suddenly be heard coming from the back room. "I think we should-" The fairy's voice caught in his throat once he caught sight of Diane.

"Hm? You think we should what?" Meliodas looked at his friend with confusion.

"N-n-nevermind!" King pivoted on his heel and then quickly walked back in the other room.

"What's with him?" Meliodas tilted his head.

Ban leaned back against the wall, placing his hands behind his head. "No idea. He is always so uptight about things. He's probably stressed about our opening night for this semester."

"Poor King…" Elizabeth whispered.

Back in the office, King quickly closed the door behind him and took a deep breath.

' _Dammit Captain! How could you make her wear that?! Diane's not that kind of girl!'_

Still, he couldn't fight the blush that reached his cheeks just thinking about the way she looked. He supposed it was to be expected, after all Meliodas had long established The Boar Hat's uniform for its cocktail waitresses. King sighed, rubbing his temples. It's a good thing their waitresses were their friends. He could foresee some sort of lawsuit with anyone else for enforcing a uniform on only the female employees. It didn't help that the uniform left very little to one's imagination.

A knock on the door took him from his thoughts.

"Come in." He said softly, flipping on his computer's monitor quickly as to appear busy.

"It's just me!" Diane gently pushed the door open.

"Oh, hello Diane." It took all of his willpower to hide his excitement. "Everything okay?"

Diane smiled. "Everything's great! I just wanted to thank you for getting me this job. It really means a lot to me."

He turned around his office chair to face her. "You bet! I'm glad to help. I know how tough it is for money to come by in college."

Diane's smiled widened in response to his enthusiasm. "Well I appreciate it." Diane turned to leave before stopping "Oh, and King?"

"Yes?"

"Meliodas and Ban said you were stressed about how tonight will go. Don't worry about it, okay? We'll all do great!" She punctuated her statement with her trademark wink and then stuck her tongue out.

King couldn't find his words and quickly nodded. Every time she pulled that maneuver his brain would stop functioning temporarily.

Diane left the office and shut the door behind her, leaving the fairy king to himself.

' _Ahhhh! I'm so stupid! What if Diane figures out I like her? I can't keep it together at all in front of her!'_ He flew around in circles, not handling his distress very well. He tried to take a deep breath and then close his eyes in concentration. It only made the situation worse. Over and over in his head he replayed the wink.

' _AHHHHHHHHHHH!_ ' The fairy screamed internally. It was going to be a long night for his poor, old heart.

* * *

 _Next Chapter: The Sins devise their next plan of action and Diane meets someone. King might have a bit of competition winning her heart!_

 _Eeek! Thank you for all the lovely reviews and encouragement. I'm glad you guys are enjoying this!_ _To answer Alexandrorca's question, this a completely AU universe but there will be some similarities to the canon story._

 _Please leave some more reviews!_


	5. Chapter 5 - Crush

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nanatsu no Taizai, The Seven Deadly Sins or King, unfortunately.**

 **No proofreader for this chapter. I apologize ahead of time for the mistakes. Read at your own risk!**

 **Chapter 5: Crush**

King was just beginning to doze off from the comfort of captain's couch. Ban and Meliodas had gone out on a beer run, leaving him to watch the house. The house was finally quiet except for the soft background noise of the television. Slowly his lids began to close and he was overjoyed it was the weekend. He had absolutely no obligations to tend to. He snuggled into his pillow and eagerly welcomed the sleep that immediately came to him.

"YO! KING!" The door suddenly slammed open, startling the fairy. He fell off the couch, crashing into the coffee table. On the way down he knocked over a cup of ice water, spilling all over his face and effectively waking him up for good.

"Dammit… Ban… WHAT?" King growled. He was tired. He was grumpy. He was a tired and grumpy fairy who needed sleep. Someone was going to die.

"Yo! You're not planning to sleep this Saturday away are you?" Ban seemed unfazed by King's irritation, which further infuriated the fairy.

"So what if I am?" His voice was as cold as the ice he wiped from his face. "I. Need. Sleep." He said through grit teeth.

"Come on buddy." Ban threw an arm around King's shoulders, effectively signing his death warrant.

King's arm shook as he summoned Chastiefol towards him. His body was acting on its own at the present moment.

Meliodas, who had just walked in, seemed to notice that someone was about to be murdered.

"Whoa whoa! King. Calm down! Ban, leave him alone." Meliodas set a couple cases of beer down on the countertop. "Gees, having you two around is like having children. You two fight like siblings."

"That's because we are siblings." Ban nudged the irritated fairy in the ribs a couple times. "Isn't that right, _big broth-?"_

King couldn't take it anymore. He snapped, thrusting Chastiefol's spear form right through Ban's chest and effectively silencing him. He pulled his spear from Ban's chest and with one snap of his fingers it returned to its pillow form. King took the opportunity to crawl onto the pillow and curl up to sleep. He made an effort to fly high enough up that he would be out of reach from Ban once he recovered.

Within seconds, Ban's body began to regenerate; the blood that once littered the floor slowly disappeared.

Meliodas sighed, rubbing his temples. "Gees King, you're very grumpy when you get woken up."

"It's because he's like a million years old." Ban said in his singsong voice, wiping the blood from his face.

King growled, flopping over on his pillow to face away from the two of them.

"Anyways, King, the reason Ban woke you is because he wanted to know if you wanted to go down to the lake with us today."

"No thanks." King replied quickly, not giving his answer much thought.

"But there will be booze. Booze! How can you pass that up?"

"Yeah, King! Booze!"

King flipped back over to shoot them a glare. "If you think you can just bribe me to get me to go, you have another thing coming. Thanks to you two, I'm very behind on my sleep."

"Oh, well that's understandable." Meliodas said, turning away from King and picking up the beer once more. "I bet _Diane_ will be very disappointed to hear you won't be there."

King quickly sat up from his place on Chastiefol. "Diane is going?!"

Meliodas nodded. "She is, but I guess it won't matter to you either way because you're not planning on being there."

King grumbled to himself. If Diane was going to be there, he better go to make sure no one at the lake tried anything weird with her. After all, there was bound to be tons of people there and Diane was a very pretty girl. "Fine, I'll go."

Ban smirked. "I knew you would come around!"

The Fairy King said nothing and calmly landed on the ground. He put a couple fingers together and whistled loudly.

"WOOF!" Oslo suddenly appeared before him.

"Don't tell me you're bringing the mutt." Ban grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Oslo growled at Ban, obviously not a huge fan of him.

"Yes I'm bringing him. He doesn't get to get out much. I bet he would love some lake time." King patted his black hound's head. "Wouldn't you, boy?"

Meliodas beckoned them all towards his car. "Well let's head out. Please grab the rest of the beer, guys."

Once they had all their supplies loaded into the car, they headed out to a lake outside of town. Elizabeth, Diane, Elaine, Gowther, Escanor and Merlin would meet them out there.

* * *

It was a half hour drive out to the lake, and King was able to catch a bit of shuteye despite his two friends blaring music. Their Captain was a fan of AC/DC and a slew of other classic rock bands. Ban and Meliodas enjoyed obnoxiously banging their heads to the music the entire drive.

They eventually arrived at a lakeside campsite. There were tons of college students already there, all ready to party away the first weekend of the college semester.

King opened his door and Oslo immediately bounded out, excitedly sniffing the ground around them and exploring. They were surprisingly the first of their group to arrive so they were able to start unloading the car and getting things setup. Meliodas had bought enough hot dogs and hamburgers to feed their entire group and Ban had offered to grill. King was simply in charge of unloading the rest of the car.

It was only as he was setting out their plates at a nearby picnic table when he noticed Guila and Jericho were present. King hurriedly walked over to their captain and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hm?" Meliodas muttered as he set a pack of hotdogs next to the grill. "What's up, King?"

"Look who's here." King said simply, tilting his head over towards the girls' general direction but not turning around.

Meliodas turned to look and seem unfazed by their presence. "I thought they might be here."

"And? Should we leave?"

Their captain shook his head. "Of course not." He winked. "Why do you think I had us come out here in the first place? More intelligence gathering of course."

The Fairy King narrowed his eyes suspiciously, obviously not a believer in what his captain was saying. It was more than obvious that Meliodas had wanted to go to the lake so he could get drunk and stare at poor Elizabeth in a bikini.

"Pay very close attention to who they're hanging out with today. We need to find out who all is involved with this whole Holy Knights business. I want to know how big this is."

King nodded and turned back around to shoot a quick glance. Guila and Jericho were playing a game of volleyball with Gilthunder and a blonde-haired athletic guy King didn't recognize. "Gilthunder is with them?" He wondered out loud.

Meliodas nodded. "I've noticed he seems to be hanging out with their group a lot."

Gilthunder was Meliodas' little brother within their fraternity. Within greek life, older members take on new members and mentor them. King knew for a fact that Gilthunder really looked up to Meliodas. It was sickening to think there was a possibility that Gilthunder was involved with the Holy Knights.

Suddenly, there was the crackling sound of a car driving over gravel towards them. In that moment, a very familiar 1994 Camry pulled up to their campsite. Elaine, Elizabeth and Diane emerged from the vehicle, carrying an assortment of beach towels, sun creams and beach balls.

"Hey you guys-!" Elizabeth's greeting was cut off as Meliodas wasted no time doing something perverted. He had already buried his face in the soft, cushiony area between her breasts. "KYAHHHH!" Elizabeth screamed, trying to push him off.

King placed a hand on his head and ran it through his hair in irritation. Captain was always acting so perverted around the poor girl. It was almost embarrassing to be around him sometimes.

"Hey beautiful!" Ban called to Elaine, scooping her up in his arms and swinging her around. Elaine giggled gleefully.

"We're the odd ones out I guess." Diane commented, coming to stand next to King.

He nodded. "So it would seem."

Diane smiled and chuckled to herself. "So what have you guys been up to today?"

King smiled towards her as well. "I caught up some sleep while these two went beer shopping. Then they invited me to go to the lake with them. And now we're here. A pretty uneventful Saturday, I'm afraid."

"Uneventful isn't always a bad thing though. Lazy Saturdays are the best, actually."

King nodded. She had no idea how much he agreed with that belief. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Sure!" Diane chirped.

He nodded again and walked over towards their cooler. He dug through the ice a bit and located two cans of Bud Light. She gratefully accepted one from him.

"So we start playing soccer on Tuesday in our class. I'm kind of excited!"

King nodded enthusiastically. "Me too!" That was a lie. He was actually dreading Tuesday. Athleticism wasn't his strong suit and he wasn't excited for Diane to see him being ridiculously weak and bad at something.

"I figured you would be excited. You did so well on your pretest! You know the rules quite well."

He shrugged, popping open his beer. "I've read a few books and seen a few games. I guarantee I will be the worst player out there though."

Diane popped open her own beer before responding. "I don't know… at least you know the rules." She smiled and took a drink.

"Well, the rules are pretty simple. I guarantee you'll catch on quick."

Diane nodded. "I'm just glad Jericho and Guila offered to teach me some things about the game… speaking of which…" The giantess waved her hands frantically and called over to the two girls. "Yo! Jericho! Guila!"

The girls seemed to just notice her presence and excitedly jogged over.

King bit his lip. It took everything in him not to blurt out to Diane just what kind of monsters she was talking to. From the corner of his eye he could see his Captain shaking his head, as if to dismiss any temptation the Fairy King felt.

"Hey Diane! Hey King! Sorry we didn't come earlier, we just now noticed you were here." Guila smiled. She wore a pink bikini with her hair pulled up into a ponytail. Under her arm she held volleyball.

"No worries, we actually just got here. Celebrating the first weekend of the school year?" Diane replied, taking another sip of her beer.

"Of course. We wouldn't miss a chance to kick back and relax." Jericho responded.

"Would you like to play volleyball with our group?"

Diane excitedly jumped up and down. "That sounds amazing! Please teach me how to play!"

Once more, both of the girls' jaws dropped.

"You… you've never played volleyball?!" Jericho asked, completely caught of guard. "You must seriously be from another planet."

Diane blushed in embarrassment. "Hehe…. Sorry…"

"No worries Diane." Guila stated, grabbing Diane's wrist and gently tugging her towards them. "We'll teach you!"

King bit down his lip even harder. Internally, he fought the urge to summon Chastiefol to him and slice Guila's hand off for even touching Diane.

Guila looked down at King, as if sensing the tension. "Would you like to play too, King?"

"No thank you." He answered curtly. He took a deep breath and walked back towards the rest of their small group.

Diane frowned. _'What's with him?'_ She turned towards Guila and Jericho. "Sorry… I think he's just really shy."

Jericho shrugged and Guila began leading them back towards the makeshift volleyball court by the lake. Two guys were waiting for them.

"Diane, this is Gilthunder and Howzer." Guila said, pointing at each guy respectively.

"Pleased to meet you!" She approached the pink-haired man and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you too. You can just call me Gil."

Diane nodded. "Thanks Gil!" She smiled and then walked over towards Howzer. "Nice to meet you as well, Howzer." She stuck out her hand and the taller man gratefully took it. It was only then that Diane got a clear look at his face. She could feel her heart thud in her chest momentarily. He had a gorgeous face with a strong jawline. His blonde hair was obviously well taken care of and styled in an attractive manner. Howzer's grip was strong and confident.

"Yes, nice to meet you, Diane."

Diane took a deep breath and took a few steps back before turning to face Guila and Jericho again. She prayed to every god she could think of that there was no visible blush on her face.

Back at their picnic site, King relaxed on top of Chastiefol, giving Diane, Guila, Jericho, Gil and the blonde muscle head the occasional glance. He really didn't like the way Diane looked at the muscle head. He sighed and buried is face into Chastiefol. This was absolute torture.

King suddenly felt a hand gently patting his back and he turned to locate the source. It was his sister.

"I'm sorry, Harlequin. I understand how you must feel."

King grumbled under his breath. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know you believe you did the right thing by erasing her memories of you two. You have to live with the consequences of your actions." Deep down, Elaine didn't agree with King's decision to make Diane forget him. She knew he had only wanted to protect Diane but it didn't make it right.

Her brother mumbled something unintelligible, burying his face in Chastiefol once more.

"Cheer up, Harlequin. It will all get easier with time." Elaine patted his back again.

"Woof!" The Fairy King heard a bark before his face was suddenly covered in slobber.

"Oslo!" King yelped, wiping his face with the sleeve of his shirt.

His younger sister giggled, rubbing the black hound's ears.

Suddenly there was a loud and startling pop. King quickly jumped to his feet, protectively standing in front of his sister. Meliodas and Ban were on high alert as well.

"Oops…" They heard Diane say. It became apparent that the sound had come from the volleyball popping as it hit the ground. Gilthunder, Howzer, Guila and Jericho's eyes were wide with shock. Diane's face was red in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry! I'll buy you another I swear!"

King sighed while Meliodas and Ban relaxed and returned to grilling food. The fairy fell backwards onto his Chastiefol and snuggled into its warmth. There was no need to be protective of Diane, she would be able to take care of herself. It seemed that even in her shrunken state she still kept a lot of her strength. Popping the volleyball on her first serve was no small feat.

* * *

King was having the most wonderful dream. Diane and him frolicked around together in a field full of flowers.

They had never been apart. He had never erased her memories and things had worked out perfectly. They lived together in his forest, among its beauty and his people. He wanted to ask her to be his queen.

He was suddenly filled with an awful feeling. He felt like he couldn't breathe. No matter how hard he tried to pull air into his lungs, it was no use. It was in that moment that King was awoken from his dream. He sat up panting and noticed Ban huddled over him, a wide smirk on his face.

"Ban! Leave my brother alone!" Elaine exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips.

' _Ugh…'_ The Fairy King noticed that awful feeling was from Ban plugging his nose while he tried to sleep. He flopped backwards into his Chastiefol.

"Are you really going back to sleep? It's dark now. You missed all the fun." Ban grinned over him.

It was only then that King noticed it was indeed dark. He sat up and looked around. The group had built a campfire and everyone was sitting around it. Merlin, Escanor and Gowther were present. Diane had rejoined them and Gilthunder, Howzer, Guila and Jericho were nowhere to be seen. Meliodas was busy stoking the fire while Elizabeth fetched the ingredients to make s'mores from the car.

"I'm not going back to sleep, I'm awake now." He replied curtly.

"Are you okay, King? Have you been getting enough sleep before today?" Diane asked.

King blushed, touched by her concern for him. "Well, not really… You know, with classes and everything and—"

Ban smacked the fairy on the back, stopping him mid-sentence. "He's fine. Don't listen to him. Don't be such a drama queen."

"Why you—" King started, gritting his teeth.

Diane laughed. "I'm just surprised you were able to sleep through all the commotion. Jericho accused Meliodas of trying to poison them. His cooking is terrible."

Meliodas shrugged. "That's not my problem. Ban was supposed to be the one cooking the food… and then he bailed on his responsibilities."

"Hey!" Ban yelped. "Elaine and I wanted to do some exploring." He rubbed his head and then turned to exchange a glance with Meliodas, who nodded. "Speaking of which, Elaine, why don't you show Elizabeth and Diane that spot we found earlier? I'm sure there will be a ton of fireflies. It's going to be pretty cool."

"But I…" Elaine started, and then realized what Ban's intentions were. "Of yeah, of course! Come on girls!"

Diane whined. "Awwwh, but what about the s'mores?!"

"Come on! It will only take a moment; The guys can start roasting marshmallows for us. Merlin, would you like to come?" Elaine helped Diane to her feet.

The scantily clad woman, donning nothing but a tiny bikini, shook her head. "No thank you. I don't really feel like wondering around just wearing this."

Elaine nodded and grabbed Elizabeth and Diane's arms, leading them away from the campsite.

One the girls were out of sight, Ban spoke quietly. "Alright, Elaine probably bought us a couple of minutes. What's up captain?"

"Right. So while I was working on preparing that delicious meal, I was trying to overhear anything weird the Holy Knights were saying." Meliodas said, sliding a marshmallow onto his stick.

"And?" Merlin pressed.

"I can't be for certain, since they were with Diane the entire time, but I think that Gilthunder and this Howzer guy are apart of their group. Obviously they didn't specifically speak about anything weird, but it sounds like, from the way they talk, they're constantly together. Also, when they were leaving they mentioned to Diane they all had a meeting with an organization tonight."

"What kind of organization has a meeting at 9PM on Saturday night?" Ban asked.

"Exactly." Meliodas replied. "That's the point I'm trying to make."

"Well then, someone needs to be present to gather some intel." Ban stretched his arms. "Since King has done it the last couple of times, I'll do it."

King was relieved to have a break from tracking the Holy Knights. It was always stressful for him and he didn't get much sleep afterwards.

"Yo, big brother?"

It took The Fairy King a moment to realize Ban was speaking to him.

"Take care of Elaine. Tell her I'll see her later." Ban waved to him and winked.

King growled. "Stop saying weird stuff!" Even when Ban seemed to be doing something nice for him, he had to ruin it by finding a different way to torment him.

Meliodas tossed Ban his keys. "Thanks! We'll ride back to campus with Merlin."

Deep within the woods, Elaine eventually led the other two girls to a clearing. There was a small creek that ran through it and a tiny waterfall smack dab in the center. The faint sound of gently falling water was very relaxing. Around them, the atmosphere was full of life as tiny fireflies glowed around them.

"Oh my… Elaine, this is beautiful." Elizabeth gasped, placing her hand over he mouth.

"Yeah…" Diane agreed, although slightly uneasy from the bugs floating around them.

Elaine sat down on the cool grass, gracefully folding her legs beside her. Diane and Elizabeth joined her. "It's nice to get some peace and quiet away from those boys. They can be so loud and obnoxious."

Elizabeth nodded. "I'm just glad to not have to fight Meliodas off of me every two seconds."

The girls giggled quietly.

Elaine leaned over and nudged Diane. "So, how was your first week of college? Meet anyone we should know about?" She winked playfully.

Diane blushed. "Well…"

"Go on, tell us!" Elizabeth leaned in with anticipation.

Diane grabbed one of her pigtails, subconsciously hiding her blushing face behind it. "That Howzer guy I played volleyball with earlier was pretty cute."

"Howzer, huh?" Elaine leaned back, tilting her eyes upward in thought. It took everything in her to keep any disappointment from showing on her features. Howzer was a stereotypical jock with a slightly douchey personality.

Elaine shook her head. Howzer was probably a nice guy. She couldn't help but think nasty thoughts about anyone capturing Diane's attention but Harlequin. Her brother loved Diane so much. It would completely shatter him if she were to date someone else.

Elizabeth smiled. "He is pretty cute. You should ask him out!"

"What!" Diane squeaked. "No way!"

"So he didn't seem into you at all?" The silver-haired girl asked her roommate.

"No! Well… I don't know… Maybe?" Diane bit her lip nervously. "I don't know. He was flirting but he seems like the type to flirt with anyone."

"Oh please Diane. He was totally into you, I'm sure." Elizabeth teased.

"Elizabeth stoooooop!" Diane blushed and shook her head wildly before quickly regaining her composure. She cleared her throat loudly. "So anyways… Elaine. There's been something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What's up?" Elaine responded. She was happy they were moving away from the Howzer subject.

"Where are you and King from?"

The blonde-haired fairy tilted her head in curiosity. "To be honest… I'm not sure you would have even heard of where we're from." She obviously wasn't going to blurt out that they were from the Fairy King's Forest.

"Try me."

"We're from a small town in the northeast called Vaizel." She lied.

"Oh." Diane sighed.

"Why do you ask?"

Diane twisted her face in frustration. "This is going to sound weird, but every time I look at your brother I can't help but get this overwhelming feeling. I really feel like I must know him from somewhere. He looks so familiar. When we lock eyes I get this ridiculous sense of déjà vu." She crossed her arms. "I thought maybe if we were from similar areas that would explain it but…"

Elaine shrugged. "I don't know… he must just have one of those faces."

Diane nodded in agreement. "You're probably right. It's just weird how familiar he feels to me." The giantess' stomach suddenly growled loudly. "Oh goodness, I think I'm ready for some s'mores."

Elizabeth nodded, standing up and dusting her legs off. "Me too! Let's head back."

"Thanks for showing us this spot Elaine. It really is beautiful! We should come here more often!" Diane said, standing up as well.

Elaine nodded. "You're welcome!" As she began to follow her two friends, her thoughts kept drifting back to Harlequin. Even if her brother had erased Diane's memories, there were still traces of him left in her subconscious. They must have been completely in love with each other.

* * *

A/N: Another chapter down! I hope you all enjoyed. Don't hate me! I swear this is a King x Diane fiction. Buuuuut…. It would be too boring if they got together immediately. ;)

Next Chapter: Howzer flirts with Diane and King gets extremely jealous and protective.


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